When you talk with Cheryl Hines, you realize that she doesn’t take herself at all seriously, which is why she’s been making us laugh since she burst onto our televisions as Larry David’s wife Cheryl in Curb Your Enthusiasm. She’s in her third season on the ABC comedy Suburgatory playing the super-put-together single mom Dallas Royce; in tonight’s episode, a matchmaker encourages Dallas to date herself, leading the highly-coiffed and made-up Dallas to go “au naturel.” Hines talked to me about the makeunder, how tough it is for her to go without makeup, her recent achievement of getting a star on the Walk of Fame, and how much she misses working on Curb.

When [executive producer] Emily Kapnek and the writers presented this episode to you, where Dallas has a “makeunder” in order to find herself, what were your initial thoughts?It sounded funny! I didn’t know they really wanted me to look that bad. I mean, every time we tried to find the right look for it, they were going, “Oh no, less makeup and the hair needs to look worse.” And I was surprised. It was funny, because I usually walk around the back lot at Warner Bros. dressed as Dallas, and crew guys will give me a second look, and they’ll open the doors for me, and they’ll help me into the van. When I had my makeunder, all that stopped [laughs].

Cheryl Hines without makeup. (Courtesy ABC)

What’s the relative difference between the Dallas version of Cheryl, the normal version of Cheryl, and the makeunder version of Cheryl, as far as the reaction is concerned?I think it’s somewhere in the middle. I don’t love going out without makeup on. I really have some mascara and concealer or people will ask me if I’m dying of something [laughs]. They used my natural curl for the makeunder, which is another good reason for me to never wear my hair in its naturally curly state. So I do sort of have to get myself together, or that’s what I’ll look like.

How did that work? On a particular day of shooting, did they just tell you to come as you are, with no makeup?Something like that. We did do a hair and makeup test beforehand, because there was a color rinse in my hair; they wanted it to be really mousy. So on the day we shot, we thought, “OK, we’ll get the hair looking just right,” then we’ll do hardly any makeup and go over to the set and add some. And when I went over, they said, no, that’s perfect.

One of the funnier visuals is when you were standing next to Carly Chaikin (who plays Dallas‘ daughter, Dalia) without your heels on.Oh, I know! It’s funny how short I am! Even walking around the set, it was the first time I had done so in flats, and it felt so different, like four inches different [laughs]. And Carly in real life might be an inch taller than me, but she’s not that much taller.

It’s an interesting trend lately, because the Today show had an episode where no one wore makeup; Kelly Ripa did an episode of her show without makeup. Do you think Emily did this episode as part of the trend, or just thought it would just be funny to see Dallas without all her “stuff?”I think she just did it as part of the story. But you’re right, I didn’t make that connection. I’ve been watching that too, and I think it’s fun to see everybody without their makeup, but it’s bold of them to do it. Hey, maybe we’re on to something! Maybe the women are rising up, telling the world “We don’t need makeup, take it or leave it.”

Is it scary for you to be on the show without makeup? Does the makeup serve as a kind of protection for you?It is kinda scary! I grew up in the South, in Florida, and my mom always told me that I should have my makeup on when I go out of the house, because you never know who you’re going to meet. So that was how I grew up; I’ve always relied on makeup. I don’t know, it’s like wearing underwear [laughs]. It just seems like part of what you put on in the morning. It never really occurred to me to not wear makeup, which sounds ridiculous, and I know that there will be women out there camping who will read this and say, “she’s an a—–e.”

How does Dallas resemble the people you grew up with?My mom, to this day, likes the bright colors, and the sparkle, and she’s always, “if you’ve got it, flaunt it”. She’s that kind of person. As a mother in L.A.—it’s probably everywhere, but it definitely feels like it’s here—there are moms who get their hair blown out for the PTA meetings that start at nine in the morning. I’ve gone to meetings where women were like dressed to the nines, but I know that they didn’t have a job that they were going to after the meeting, because they were stay-at-home moms. So I quickly realized that, “Oh! This is the event of the day!” I even talked to this one mom who says she gets real dressed up and puts on her lowest-cut shirt to drop off her daughter at high school in her convertible, because she likes to hear the boys whistle at her. So it happens, sadly. But that’s what’s so great about Suburgatory; we’re just laughing at ourselves.

What was the most fun or surreal moment about getting a star on the Walk of Fame?It was all pretty surreal. My whole family was here from Florida, so I had like 20 family members, and for whatever reason they all wanted to sleep at my house—you couldn’t get them out of the house. I had family members just floor to floor. I had nieces and nephews and people sleeping by the pool. Then just to have all my friends and family show up on that day… I looked out and saw a handful of guys that I worked with at Universal Studios in Orlando, which was one of my first jobs—I got stabbed in the shower recreating the Psycho scene on the Universal tour. I had the cast of Suburgatory with me; my boyfriend, Robert Kennedy [Jr.], was by my side, my ex-husband was there, my daughter… Larry David was there, Kevin Nealon said some hilarious things and Jeremy Sisto said such sweet things. It was just amazing.

Is it hard to contemplate coming from being on the Universal tour to ending up with a star the Walk of Fame?Yes, it still doesn’t really seem true. But I have friends who every time they walk by it, they take pictures and send it to me. I need to go back over there and just sit on my star for awhile [laughs]. It’s surreal because it was something I never even dreamed about because I was busy dreaming about trying to get an acting job, because I needed to pay my rent. I never knew how people got a star on Hollywood Boulevard, so it didn’t seem possible. So [when I heard I was] getting one, I was like, “I don’t know what you’re saying right now.”

How much do you miss doing Curb Your Enthusiasm?I miss it a lot. We really had the best time shooting that show. But fortunately, Larry is one of my best friends, so I see him all the time.

Do you hope that Larry on the show gets back with his ex-wife Cheryl on the show for a one-night stand so you can come back?Yeah… would that kill him? Why not? [laughs]